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Topic: All You Need Is Kill (Read 53355 times)

To Kate: "The island? You mean Carcosa?" He grabbed a chair and sat with them. "Chopsticks, eh? Always liked that guy. Always wondered how me and him would fare as partners. So yeah, I heard earlier tonight from Bouncer, about the "hits" from Cellophane. Never could look that androgynous bastard in the eye.

He paused to call a waiter over and ordered a coffee and cinnamon roll.

To Eddy: "Well s**t Eddy, Bouncer and Sphinx wouldn't have you in the Fab Five, so you started your own outfit?" Artie glanced around the table. "These two look mean" he said about Dan and Karl. "Real mean. What do you call yourselves? Fearsome Foursome? Never heard of you before."

To Kate: "Transport to the island? (everything was a question with Artie Shaw). Well shiiit", he added succinctly, "I'm not sure. Oh wait! I know a guy with a boat, doesn't live far from here. I can call him. No promises, but I can try."

To the four of them: "When you called me, I assumed you needed me, for...well, you know. Like whenever Bouncer calls me. But you need a boat, heh. Ok, let me make the call." Artie Shaw got up and went to the bathroom.

PoisonAlchemist: Man Muro, you boost my confidence and then you just go crush it with a heartbreaking work of staggering genius.Pariah: Don't tell him things like that, if his head gets any bigger he'll float off like a weather ballon :p

PoisonAlchemist: Man Muro, you boost my confidence and then you just go crush it with a heartbreaking work of staggering genius.Pariah: Don't tell him things like that, if his head gets any bigger he'll float off like a weather ballon :p

Kate winced slightly at the mention of The Bouncer, the image of his brains still dripping onto the concrete fresh in her mind. Hopefully his currently canceled status wouldn't become apparent for some time. As Artie stood up she quickly fired off a single statement.

"The boats only 1/2 the equation, if you're willing to help us clean the island and find our damsel in distress it would be deeply appreciated, and you would be well compensated." She let her voice warm at the end of the sentence, hoping if she couldn't appeal to Artie's sense of honor then perhaps his bank account was a bit more open minded.

"Well, you know how this works, lady...oh wait right, you don't! Eddy, tell her how this works. Tell her about the Wingman! I'll need guarantees, protection, bullet-proof vest, the works! If you want me to come with, that is..."

He leaned in closer again and whispered, "See, I'm s**t-useless myself, lady. It's what I do to...others. Everyone wants me around. Ok, i'll be right back."

PoisonAlchemist: Man Muro, you boost my confidence and then you just go crush it with a heartbreaking work of staggering genius.Pariah: Don't tell him things like that, if his head gets any bigger he'll float off like a weather ballon :p

"K, i can get you a boat. 35 footer, she'll do. We'd need to drive there. Not far."

Artie sat down and began eating his cinnamon roll.

"Do you folks have any idea what your getting yourself into? You ever hear the stories of this Dr. Insano? No? Well, I have. Stephen Hawking, Einstein, Turing, you hear of these people, yes? Morons! All of them morons compared to Insano! Then he went nuts...and the rest is history. Did you know that he actually created, or so i heard, an actual @!#$ing serum to turn regular people into 'supes'? Yeah, that was few years back. Here's something funny, did you know, he grew up around here? Insano I mean, right here behind the pearly gates of Brookville, in a house that looks more like a castle. Place is empty, i hear, but dobermans still patrol the grounds. Go figure."

Coffee slurp...

"And you have to ask yourselves," Artie was on a roll now, as he chewed his roll, "Why hasn't anyone done anything to stop this monster yet? You know, I mean, like our dear government?"

"Suicide", he concluded, "You're asking me to join you on a suicide mission..."

Slurp of coffee...

"Oh hey, what are all your 'gifts' by the way? I love imagining what I could do with them." He smiled thinly.

PoisonAlchemist: Man Muro, you boost my confidence and then you just go crush it with a heartbreaking work of staggering genius.Pariah: Don't tell him things like that, if his head gets any bigger he'll float off like a weather ballon :p

Kate put on her best plastic smile as it became apparent Artie was more then a few bullets shy of a full magazine, which given his friendship with Eddy wasn't all that surprising, bird of a feather and such proving to be an accurate if old saying.

"One of my companions may have a spare flak vest or something you can use?" She give them a quick glance before continuing, "The current Government's good for two things, getting in peoples way, and taking away their freedoms in the name of security. In short I wouldn't count on them to do a d**n thing besides form a sub committee to discuss how to handle the problem while hoping it goes away on its own." She rolled her eyes and leaned forward at his inquiry of her gift.

"Evolution has seen fit to grant me a increased metabolism, which in turn boosts my reflexes and spacial awareness to beyond that of even natures more lethal predators." She paused again as she realized her description was likely a few levels of education beyond Artie's current schooling. "I move and think devilishly quick and precise when the situation requires it." I also have an caloric intake that makes a bulimic sumo wrestler jealous, she added mentally, staring down at the empty plate of her third double order of french fries, briefly considering adding a fourth to the bill before deciding against it.

"And if it's God, well," he snorted, "the he's a nasty f*cker to make me smell every d*mn thing that happens in this city."

He shook his head and waved dismissively, as though to clear away the thought. "I track people down. You gimme something they touched, I can tell you where they are, or were sometimes." He drank his own black coffee and nodded at Wingman. "What about you, exactly?"

Karl was quiet in the car. Then quiet at the truck stop. He’s quiet now, sipping coffee, blacker than black, almost darker than his thoughts.

Four more.

No spotter, though. Don’t count, right?

THEN

“How many, Gunny?” Karl’s new spotter asked. PFC Caine weren’t exactly green. Green don’t get asked to Force Recon training, or to the Scout-Sniper school. Green don’t get you here, in the s**t, crawling through the god forsaken jungle where it can be over a hundred degrees and still rainin’, like it was now.

No, PFC Caine weren’t green. But he was still pretty raw, askin’ questions like that.

Karl didn’t spare a glance. Under about a thousand pounds of Ghillie suit camouflage, under his wide brimmed hat, eye @!#$in’ glued to his scope, he answered. “How many does it say in the file?”

“C’mon, Gunny,” Caine said. They’d already had the talk. Out here, just the two of ‘em for days at a time, is no place for the formalities. Karl had dispensed with the Gunnery Sergeant Hathaway bulls**t pron-@!#$ing-to. “Everyone knows the official count ain’t the real count.”

Karl grunted, eye still glued to the scope. 700 yards away, a village, suspected Charlies. Karl’s official orders today were to confirm or refute the claim. Karl’s unofficial orders were to shoot a few. So far, he hadn’t seen any.

“Official count is the only count, Caine.”

NOW

The official count wasn’t the only count.

Maybe some were blessed with the ability to lose count. Not Karl. You don’t talk about it, not ever, not to anyone.

Tonight the count was four higher, and fixin' to be higher still before this ended.

Karl looked up, almost surprised to see the new guy. He’d been deep in thought, and it showed right now on his face, looking older, tired. Only thing he was ever good for, and he’s tired of it. What now, Gunny?

“Ain’t got no gift. I just shoot.”

Karl sips his coffee. No, it ain't blacker than his thoughts. Not by a sight.

"Me? I'm the guy everyone wants to hang out with. Still don't have a clue how I do it, but I make every supe that many times more powerful. Can jump thirty feet straight up? With me along, you can jump 60 feet straight up, see? Well, as long as I'm within five feet of you or so...what? You thought I had wings? Bouncer named me back in the day, loved having me nearby."

Driving through Brookville, was like driving through a whole 'nother world. Mansions, castles, greenery, quiet. Bucolic yet sophisticated, if that made any sense.

Artie Shaw narrated as they drove..."That was the Vanderbilt's place, and that one over there belongs to some fancy Hollywood guy, not sure who. And *that* there, past the fearsome-looking gate, was once the estate of the Wernstroms! Know who that was? Dr. Alan Wernstrom? No? None other than Dr. Insano, lady and germs! But the place is supposedly empty and abandoned now. Hey, did you know that before Insano went insane he was a law-abiding, justice-loving supe? Yeah, 'Ubermensch', he called himself. Man, i do miss the old days..."

Just as they passed the iron-wrought fence of the Wenstrom's Estate, Dan spied someone on the other side of the gate. A dark figure could be seen approaching the mansion across the overgrown lawn...and entering the house! A figure that despite looking somewhat stooped, had to be at least 7 feet tall by Dan's approximation. Maybe 8. What the @!#$?

PoisonAlchemist: Man Muro, you boost my confidence and then you just go crush it with a heartbreaking work of staggering genius.Pariah: Don't tell him things like that, if his head gets any bigger he'll float off like a weather ballon :p

Kate took her foot off the gas as she spotted the shadowy form, knowing better than to suddenly brake and risk drawing attention to themselves. "The Bouncer maybe?" Her voice held the twinge of doubt, unless someone with a healing ability had gotten their hands on him it was unlikely that contract would be anything more then a ongoing hospital bill for the foreseeable future.

"We could pay his mansion a little recon and see if we can learn more what Isano's up to, or do you want to keep going to the docks?" She gave Karl a sidelong glance, making it clear she was willing to follow his lead on the approach. It was his kid they were trying to either rescue or avenge after all.

"On a side note I've been thinking, your daughters likely still alive if the rumors of Insano making a injection for giving people abilities is true at least. He probably wants to acquire some of your dna and use a recursive genome virus to attempt to awaken similar latent abilities in her." She winced inwardly at the clinical description she had given, adding hastily, "If so she's probably unharmed for the time being."

Her instincts told her it was unlikely, and a man like Insano had a penchant for experimentation, but like any skilled scientist he likely wouldn't want to risk ruining crucial experiment by using the subject for something less important. Well a sane one would think that way anyway.

"Ehhm--" Wingman stared at the huge figure which vanished inside the mansion...

"Um, nobody knows what happened. One day he was the world's most brilliant scientist, the next day, Insano... wait, did you see that? Maybe that was one of his henchmen or something. Hey, shooter", Wingman now looked at Karl, "You want to charge a super-max island blind, be my guest, but maybe whoever that was is working for him. If my eyes did not just deceive me, that might have been She-Golem. Ever hear *that* legend?" Wingman stared out the window, as Kate cruised at 20 mph by the Wenstrom Estate. Artie just wouldn't shut up. Talked more than Cellophane.

Sudden thunder above them. Four black helicopters whizzed by faster than any helicopters had a right to fly. Multiple rotors. State of the art. Black Op looking birds. Heading for the water.

PoisonAlchemist: Man Muro, you boost my confidence and then you just go crush it with a heartbreaking work of staggering genius.Pariah: Don't tell him things like that, if his head gets any bigger he'll float off like a weather ballon :p

"She Golem?" Kate rolled her eyes at the name, biting back a comment about her being The Bouncers girlfriend. "What her story?" She asked just as much out of curiosity as tactical interest, letting the car coast past the manor.

"If we do stop I'll pull us in a half block or so away, no sense drawing attention to ourselves." Or getting my ride messed up, she added silently to herself, recalling the slashed tires and other damage a couple of her former friends vehicles received a long time ago after they ignored her advice to relocate their transportation out of the line of fire.

"I'm just guessing here based on a glimpse" Artie replied, "But if it is her..."

"You heard of the original Golem right? Prague? Rabbi Lowe? I'm sure you heard the story. But they say a second automaton was created that day, and whisked away unknown to--" he paused as he watched the black choppers whiz by, "Wow, someone's mobilizing eh? Where was I? Yeah, they say another Golem was created that night, an Eve to pair with Adam, and She still wonders the earth..."

He would keep going, but had to swallow spit...

"I don't know much else, but they say she surfaced in NY in the 70's. Some villain or other found her "instructions" and activated her for his own purposes. They say today, she serves the Jewish Mafia, but I guess maybe Insano got her now. That's about all I know. Listen, I'm not a @!#$ing encyclopedia, ok? I can tell you this. If you shoot her, it better be a LOT. She's a brick-house! If uhm, that's her, I mean. Oh yeah, and she's become some kinda zeitgeist symbol for lesbians i hear."

PoisonAlchemist: Man Muro, you boost my confidence and then you just go crush it with a heartbreaking work of staggering genius.Pariah: Don't tell him things like that, if his head gets any bigger he'll float off like a weather ballon :p

Kate signed quietly at the unbelievable back story behind She Golem, knowing better than to attempt to comment on such a bunch of religious fairy tales. The mention of the Jewish Mafia caught her attention however, and the lesbian symbol comment brought a smile to her face.

"If the Kosher Nostra had something like that, no way in hell they'd let someone like Insano take control of it, not unless he's close friends with the émigré down on Brighton Beach." She paused briefly mentally turning over the information and comparing it against her knowledge of the local syndicates. "The Seventies were during Evsei Agron's time, got into a beef with Boris Goldberg, heard he resorted to some crazy stuff during that throw down, crafting some kinda Frankenstein wouldn't be too far off." She waved her hand dismissively as the realized no one present likely cared for a history lesson.

"My point is if Insano's messing with the prison, some of the Kosher Nostra have people doing time there and thus a vested interest in keeping him from succeeding at whatever he's up to." Or helping him she added quietly, wondering at the significance of the black choppers, and if they would soften the islands targets, or just stir up a hornets nest.

"Well, that's all well and good," Dan said, watching the estate from the window. "But what do we do with that? Is it worth it to jump into Casa de Insano here, or should we jump right into the island?

"I'd like to see what exactly's going down in there, but I don't feel like tangling with she-b*tch down there." A thought suddenly occurred to him. "Hey, you said our abilities work better just by hanging around you, right?" he said, pointing to Artie. "Why don't we give it a shot?" Donovan rolled down the window and stuck his face out. "Maybe I can sniff something out, figure out who or what's in there." He snorted air out of his nose quickly a few times, then took a long, slow inhale, hoping to pick up some scent on the wind.

He listens to the ******* talk too much, listens to the talk about Dr. Insano, the estate, the She-whatever, all wastes of time Katie ain't got. All distrac--

Karl looks up as the helos flash by overhead.

He thinks. An island. A prison. That'll mean high walls. Karl needs range, and elevation.

Karl pulls out a new phone, puts in the battery, turns it on. He dials a number, waits. Karl bets it picks up in one ring. He ain't sleepin' tonight.

"Ted," he says when the calls goes through. "Those your helos on the way to the prison? Get me on one of 'em. Preferably a big one a man can shoot from. And get me a fifty, maybe one of the new sixty-fives if they let you boys play with toys like that. I only brought Linh with me, and I need to shoot bigger holes than she can make."

Karl looks around. "That place you're all so hot to go looks like it might let a helo land. What's the name of it?"

Kate shrugged, realizing he hadn't been paying attention to her comments about his daughter, and now seemed to want a private ticket onto the island without them?

She let the car coast to a stop on a near by corner in between the streelights, turning off the headlights and choosing her next words with care. "You wanted me as a spotter and the rest of us to help find your daughter and rescue her, hangout with us while we call up Wingman here and arrange for a boat to the island without a @!#$ing word of complaint, and now you want to ditch us to play commando with some black ops squad of norms?" She sighed, trying to quickly articulate the confusion and annoyance she was feeling.

"While those Delta force goons might let you pal around with them on a chopper, I very much doubt the rest of us non soldier types will be welcome," assuming their birds don't get blasted out of the sky by Insano and his hard boys, she thought to herself. "But if you'd rather go take your chances with them then us I'm happy drop you off anywhere you like and go find a contract that actually has a paycheck at the end of it."

She fixed him with a pointed stare, finally remembering the individual on the other end of the phone call and his inquiry. "Oh and the estate is called Wernstrom, and I have some road flares in the trunk if you want to set out a signal fire for the chopper to come pick you up." Screw it, if he wanted to leave she saw no reason not to point him in the right direction anyway, for his daughters sake and professional courtesy if nothing else.

"Oh and you might want to think twice before going wild from a chopper with a fifty and sixty five, because there's a good chance your daughter could become collateral damage."

Waiting for Ted to answer him, Karl looks at Kate. He waits for her to finish before replying.

"Actually miss," Karl begins, "I did figure we'd all hitch a ride. Didn't figure it needed sayin', but I sure am sorry if I guessed wrong." He looks into the phone. "Y'hear that, Ted? Need room for me an' four more. Maybe five." He recalls the very large form they saw. "Maybe ten."

Karl looks back to Kate. "I ain't plannin' to fire wild. A sniper's fifty is a Barrett. Semi-Auto, Scope. One hit, one kill, that's our motto." He actually gives a little smile. "Actually, these babies, sometimes we'd play a little one hit, three kill."

"Ted, you make sure there's room for everyone on that helo, and maybe we're even for two years ago."

Karl looks around. "I figure if Ted can get the firepower, and the helo, then we got altitude and range. If there's anything heavy, we spot it, and I take it. Hell... if Mr. Manwing here is everything he says, maybe I can get 'er done with just Linh, here." He pats the rifle case. Yes, he named his Bravo after Katie's mother.

"Once any major defense is down, we swoop in an' drop." Karl shrugs. "Better than trying to climb a wall without bein' able to see what's on the other side."

When you make a plan sweetie you stick with it unless you got no choice, I've seen too many good officers hurt because they didn't stick to the plan.

The advice from Kate's father echoed through her mind, as she processed Karl's response, his calm reassuring tone mollifying her indignation as quickly as his earlier words has awoken it. Of course make sure your first plan is worth following, I seen even more officers hurt following a piss poor plan then making a solid one from the get go. She wondered briefly if her father would have gotten along with Karl if he'd known him back in the day. Good chance they'd have been regular drinking buddies , shooting the breeze and probably anything else that they could set their sights on that needed a stitch of hot lead.

"New plan sounds a d**n sight better'n the old one to me." Kate responded, "and I thought the 50 you were referring to was a Browning fifty cal machine gun, easy mistake to make." She gave him a sly wink, before realizing he couldn't see it in the darkened interior of the car.

"If the delay's long enough on the chopper we can maybe poke around the mansion a bit?" She let the question hang, still waiting on input from the rest of her companions, and for Bloodhound to live up to his name and tell them what the situation smelled like so to speak.

Easy, Gunny. This ain't your daughter, no matter what her eyes look like. Hasn't even wished you was dead once.

"I mean, I figured that's what you meant when you talked about goin' in wild, miss. Sometimes I forget I ain't in the Corps no more. In the platoon, if I said it, everyone knows I mean a heavy sniper, but out here in the world it ain't the same. An' you're right. seen some cowboys truly go wild with one o' them. Mount one on a helo, really go to town, trimmin' the trees an' anyone in 'em."

He looks around.

"I know y'all made a plan, but a helo is faster, an' even a heavy one is more mobile than a boat. An' if ol' Ted Best ever comes back from leavin' me on hold, he might maybe have some intel fer us, too."

If Karl's instinct about Ted's interest in Katie is right, the boy'll want to do whatever he can to help Karl get her back.

It was true apparently. Wingman's mere presence magnified Dan's senses. The house smelled old, no surprise there. He also smelled no "life" of any kind inside the house. Somewhat surprising, since they had just seen the monstrous figure go inside, a minute ago. He also smelled a familiar scent. Dog. Or dogs rather, patrolling the grounds? Lastly, he smelled something even he did not think he was capable of detecting. Ghosts. Or rather, that nebulous hint of the dead, the fleeting awareness of those who did not go to the grave peacefully. Nothing else interesting from the estate. No meatloaf baking...But still, d**n, this Wingman was good!

***

"What the @!#$, Karl? I know I owe you, but c'mon! Wait, hold on..."

Teddy Best's "hold music" was bizarre. Juice Newton's, "Angel of the Morning", Karl exhaled as he waited for the FBI agent to get back on the line...

"There will be no strings to bind you...Not if my love can't bind your heart...Just call me aaangel, of the morning, aaangel...Just touch my cheek before you leave meeee, baaaaby..."

Surreal.

Wingman got a call of his own. The 'Cuda was crowded and loud now.

"What? Speak up. What? Bounce? I can't understand what you're saying. Girl and a bum? What the hell is wrong with you? Come now? Can't. Feels like old times here Bouncer, I'm running with a team again! What? I can barely understand what you just said, but it sounded nasty..."

Artie continued trying to understand what the hell Bouncer was growling on the line...

***

Just call me aaaangel...Ted came back on the line. "Karl, no can do on the gun, but can do on chopper. 30 minutes. Can you hold out that long? I'll get you a @!#$ing chopper in 30 minutes. Got your 'locay' from your phone. That work? Karl, please, I'm begging you with tears in my eyes, do NOT go in half-cocked! We have a plan...Karl? Karl?! Listen, this could all be ok after another hour. We're going in heavy. If Katie is there, alive, we'll get her out. Karl?...What? Yeah, i may have some new intel, but gonna have to call you back with that..."

***

"Chopper? Oh @!#$ no! I don't do choppers. Wingman don't @!#$ing fly!" Artie had gotten off with the Bouncer and now heard the snippets of Karl's plan, and Kate's green light. "Why don't we split up? Chopper and boat. Bam, bam? By the way, you guys want the Bouncer's help? That was him. Sounds @!#$ed up. But he's the Bouncer, I'm sure he'll be fine soon."

At that exact moment, Eddy, who was sitting there silent as a church mouse, spied the hulking figure exit the Wernstrom house, and make its way back across the grounds, clutching something...books? The figure was heading sideways along the iron fence, and still hadn't spied the 'Cuda, or the super heroes inside it.

PoisonAlchemist: Man Muro, you boost my confidence and then you just go crush it with a heartbreaking work of staggering genius.Pariah: Don't tell him things like that, if his head gets any bigger he'll float off like a weather ballon :p

"I'm goin' in heavy, Ted, Me an' my new friends. You feel like sharing intel, maybe we can avoid steppin' on toes. And make it fifteen, we got places to be." He hangs up, then looks at Artie.

"Yer name's Wingman, and yer afraid t'fly?" He holds up a hand to forestall the repeat of the explanation. "I know, I know. Just seems funny is all. Tell me this... that power of yours.... it work if yer... I dunno.... tied up in a footlocker?"

PoisonAlchemist: Man Muro, you boost my confidence and then you just go crush it with a heartbreaking work of staggering genius.Pariah: Don't tell him things like that, if his head gets any bigger he'll float off like a weather ballon :p

"Boy, the last thing in the entire godd**n world I am is good people. Good Marine? Sure. Once. Good Shooter? Hell yes. But Good People?" Karl shakes his head. "Can't seem to recall a time."

Karl lets it hang a minute. "What I *am* is a daddy who will do anything - who will use any tool as his disposal - to get his little girl back safe and sound. And in that pursuit, I count two kinds: Those to whom I will be forever indebted for their help, and those who are just in my d**n way."

Karl's looking younger all the time. Some part of him WANTS to be here. Some tiny part of him, God help him, even secretly hopes he's too late so it will have the excuse to be let out of its cage.

"Now, I sure do apologize for any misunderstanding. I hope I have clarified my position some, and that I can count on your assistance."

At some point during his speech, Karl's hand began absently stroking the rifle case cradled in his arms. He doesn't seem to have noticed.